Post 5: More good news

On Wednesday, I promised that I would update my blog when my departure date was confirmed, so I’m currently writing to keep my promise! After about three long weeks of waiting, I can finally say that I will be officially leaving for Spain on Tuesday night, September 29th, 2015.

However, that’s not the only good news I have… I’m just going to explain everything that happened, so you fully understand what happened, so here’s a story for you:

On Thursday, my mom called me after work to explain the departure information that AFS had communicated with her. She told me that I would need to be at AFS’s headquarters on Wall Street in New York at 10:00am on Tuesday, September 29th, because AFS requires all of their students to have orientation before they depart. After orientation in their office, officials from AFS would take me JFK airport that same day for my 9:00pm flight to Spain. Because of the problems with my visa, AFS had originally offered to pay for me to fly from Philadelphia to New York, if it would be easier for my mom and I. My mom and I weren’t exactly sure what to do, so we were weighing the options.

I called Mrs. McGuriman to communicate this information with her to ensure IFC was in the loop, and she told me that taking the train or driving would be the easiest. However, she told me that she wanted to talk with Mr. Knauss (president of IFC) first and promised she would call me back. About 30 minutes later, Mrs. McGuriman called my mom and I and explained that she wanted to make us an offer on behalf of the IFC. Because of everything we had been through, the IFC wanted to pay for my mom and I to spend all of Monday in NYC and the night in a hotel within walking distance to where I needed to be on Tuesday morning. Overwhelmed with excitement, disbelief, and gratitude, my mom and I started to cry. Mrs. McGuriman explained that this was basically IFC’s way of giving my mom and I a stress free day and night before I leave after the weeks of continual problems. After saying yes and thank you a million times, Mrs. McGuriman said she would be in contact with us once all the details were planned out for our stay in NYC.

Monday, September 28th is going to be an amazing way to end my last full day in the United States, because I’ll be spending it with my best friend. Now that everything is finalized, I’m so excited to begin my journey.

The feeling of knowing all of this information is incredibly hard to describe, because it feels as if I’ve been accepted to study abroad again. Throughout the past three weeks, it was extremely hard to deal with the fact that I couldn’t control the situation. Being a type-A person, I wanted to fix the problem myself immediately, but I had to rely on others to do it for me, which is something that I struggle with.

Looking back, this situation has proved to be one of the most influential learning experiences I’ve ever encountered. While I was extremely stressed, upset, frustrated, I have to admit that everyone who told me “everything happens for a reason” was right. At the time, I couldn’t understand why my situation kept getting progressively worse; however, I now understand that it has made me a stronger person and taught me to roll with the punches. The next time something doesn’t go as planned, I’ll think back to this experience and know that I’m fully capable of handling it.

However, now it’s time for me to focus on getting to Spain safely, so I can meet my wonderful host family. Since AFS notified me of my host family and their contact information in the summer, my host mom and I have been texting every single day. I’m beyond excited to meet them when I arrive on Wednesday, because seeing their faces in person will be a million times better than through FaceTime.

It’s an odd feeling knowing that this will be my last weekend in the United States until I return in the end of June. I’m spending my time with those most important to me before my mom and I leave on Monday morning. Tomorrow (Saturday, September 26th) my mom, meme, and I are spending the day together, and Sunday we’re having family and friends over our house for cake as a last goodbye.

Well that’s it for now, but be sure to check my blog for an update within the next several days, because according to my countdown, I leave for Spain in about 3 days and 21 hours!

Abrazos y besos,
Taylor Young